Iggy and the Stooges: Escaped Maniacs (2008)

• 78%
• 2008
• Documentary
• Music

The undisputed Godfather Of Punk, Iggy Pop invented punk music years before the likes of Johnny Rotten and The Sex Pistols made the charts in 1977. He has been receiving considerable media attention in recent months to the extent that his popularity and profile have never been higher. In 2005, over thirty years after they split in 1974, Iggy reunited with his original band, The Stooges, and embarked on a major world tour. This spectacular performance, filmed at the 2005 Lokerse Festival, features blistering versions of most of the tracks from the first two Stooges albums in addition to two new songs, 'Skull Ring' and 'Dead Rock Star'. It's clear from the opening bass riff of 'Loose' that the Stooges' raw power has not waned. It all kicks off with the pounding primitive thud of Scott "Rock" Asheton's drums. Ex-Minuteman Mike Watt (standing in for the dearly departed Dave Alexander) lets rip with a powerful bass wobble guaranteed to let loose the most uptight caboose. Scott's brother Ron grinds in on guitar to create a filthy groove, over which he adds the mind-melting wail of distorted wah. On top of this sea of sound floats the one and only Iggy, whose grunting, gurgling, let-it-all-hang-out vocal style and on-stage gyrations epitomise the art of singing as the raw expression of the soul. Barely out of their teens in their heyday (1967-1974) the Stooges were as much influenced by Detroit's industrial noise as they were rock groups like the Velvet Underground, The Who, the Stones and experimental jazz artists such as Sun Ra and John Coltrane. The soul expressed in their performance is of a stultifying suburban alienation and of the drive to escape a possible lifetime stuck on the assembly line through sex, drugs and rock and roll. Though common enough today, such themes, so overtly expressed, were poison to a 60s youth culture focussed on the utopian mirages of flower power and Woodstock. Few critics were impressed.